Hi, allforone. I agree that your most pressing need is a dependable ace. You should be all right at closer - Rivera's great, but with your roster, he presumably doesn't warrant trading Piazza.

Of your Red Sox, trading Damon would probably work out best. Just insert Pierre; no serious harm done to your lineup.

Before shopping Piazza, I'd start by seeing if there's interest in players like Damon (or Pierre), Vizquel or Pierzynski. Even in a small league, there should be several teams that could use an upgrade at c or ss. If you can land a true ace, raising the ante to Nomar would probably make sense, too.

Perhaps you can target pitchers coming off poor outings. Acquiring Vazquez, Zito or Wood might be quite a bit easier than going after Garcia, at least right now. Good luck!

Actually, I forgot to mention in my note that I had just traded Trevor Hoffman for Pedro Martinez to shore up my starting pitching. I was also looking into acquiring Brian Giles. I was offering Ishii and Escobar. I think that they are going to have worse 2nd half's and didn't want to be stuck with them, which is why I was looking at the Piazza/Damon for Garcia/Rivera move.

Wow - that's quite a trade. Congratulations on picking up Pedro! So much for needing an ace...

Anyway, yes, the Giles deal does make a lot of sense. While I'm not sure Escobar will actually be traded, it's a possibility that can't be ignored; if he does wind up setting up (for the Angels or another team), his value will be in the cellar. Shopping him now definitely makes sense. If you can snag Giles for this package, go for it.